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The Ottoman Archive

10.05.2011

During the five centuries (early 15th-early 20th centuries) that the Athonite state remained under Ottoman rule, the state documents accumulated in the archives of the monasteries were written in Turkish. The Ottoman archive of the Vatopedi Monastery is one of the largest on Mount Athos. It includes various types of documents that refer to various issues of the Monastery and its shares; purchases and dedications of real estate, collection of taxes, permits for the erection of buildings, etc.

Of greater interest are the 150 sultanic firmans of the Monastery, which were issued for various administrative and fiscal matters. The oldest dates back to 1405 (in a copy), while that of Sultan Murad II (1425) is particularly important, recognizing the privileges granted to Vatopedi by Mehmet I. The same category also includes the appointments (beratia) of six archpriests who, after the end of their episcopal term, retired to Vatopedi. Among them, the berat of Patriarch Gerasimos of Alexandria and the two beratia of Gregory of Adrianople (formerly Stromnitsa) stand out.

There are many more hodjetia, i.e. the decisions of local judges (kadis) on various issues of the Vatopedi Monastery, mainly property-related. The oldest hodjeti dates back to 1474 and refers to the donation to the Monastery of a house in Constantinople by Mara, daughter of the Serbian despot George Branković. There are 500 receipts for payment of the poll tax (haraci) that was due to Vatopedi. The haraci papers cover the period from 1691 to 1839, when this type of tax was abolished. Even greater is the number of receipts for payment of various other taxes of the Ottoman state (tithe tax, sheep and goat tax, customs duties, etc.). On the contrary, there are few – but extremely useful – excerpts from the imperial cadastre, in which the Vatopedi estates are recorded, and the orders (bouyourdi) of the political-military commanders of the region. In addition to all of these, the Ottoman archive also contains a multitude of other documents (certificates, passports, letters, etc.)

Edict of Sultan Murad II, dated 1426. The rights granted to Mount Athos by his father Mehmet I are recognized.
"Despina, daughter of Despot", as Mara, daughter of the Serbian ruler Georgios Banković and wife of Murad II, is referred to in Turkish documents, donates a house in Constantinople to the Vatopedi Monastery in 1474. The inscription is written in Arabic. On the back cover there is the note "the grace of Kera in Vatopedi in the city"
Decree on the exemption of taxes in villages of Sithonia, Chalkidiki (December 1795)
Buyurdi (order) of the vizier Mehmet Abu Lubut, granting amnesty to the monks of the Vatopedi Monastery for their participation in the 1821 revolution and allowing them to return to their monastery
Permission to return to the monastery of the twenty-eight monks of the Vatopedi Monastery, who had been removed from it during the Revolution of 1821
(left). Certified copy of the appointment of the monk Gregory as metropolitan of Stromnitsa, August 8, 1818. (Right). { EYL}Athdxane. Copy of the treaty with the privileges granted by Muhammad to the monks of Sinai in the year 623
Appointment (berati) of Metropolitan Gregory of Stromnitsa to the widowed Metropolis of Adrianople, after the death of Metropolitan Gerasimos. June 2, 1830